1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hose storage reels, and more particularly pertains to a novel and improved hose reel cart for rolling hoses, particularly fire hoses, for storage.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fire hoses such as those employed on fire apparatus must be rolled for storage after use. This task has heretofore involved manual rolling of the hoses on the ground by stooping firemen. This practice frequently causes strain and other injury to firemen's backs, due to the necessity of bending or stooping and the relatively heavy nature of the fire hoses.
A variety of reel devices have been proposed by the prior art for the rolling and rolled storage of hoses. These devices are typically designed for use with garden hoses. U.S. Pat. No. 2,636,747 which issued to P. Blackmond on Apr. 28, 1953 discloses a wheelbarrow in which the tub may be removed and replaced with a hose reel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,137,939 which issued to H. Chow on Feb. 6, 1979 discloses a hose reel cart including a reel mounted for manual rotation via a hand crank on a tubular frame. The frame has a pair of wheels for movement along the surface of the ground. U.S. Pat. No. 4,512,361 which issued to C. Tisbo et al. on Apr. 23, 1985 discloses a hand crank driven hose storage reel mounted on a wheeled plastic frame. U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,737 which issued to T. Nelson on Oct. 20, 1987 discloses a hand crank driven hose storage reel mounted on a tubular wheeled frame. U.S. Pat. No. 4,974,627 which issued to T. Nelson on Dec. 4, 1990 discloses a hose reel mounted on a plastic wheeled frame and including an elevated hand crank mechanism coupled for rotating the reel by a gear drive mechanism intended to obviate the need for a user to bend or stoop. U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,882 which issued to J. Eley on May 5, 1992 discloses a hose caddy including a hand crank driven reel mounted on a tubular frame and having an elongated U-shaped guide for aligning a hose on the reel.
The above-described prior art devices are intended for use with garden hoses, and are not suitable for use with fire hoses for several reasons. First, storage of a fire hose entails flattening the hose to drain water and rolling the flattened hose upon itself in an overlying coil, rather than upon a reel or spool. Second, storage of rolled fire hoses on separate reel mechanism is precluded by the great volume of space required. Third, fire hoses weigh much more than garden hoses, making it very difficult to "reel in" a fire hose for storage upon a stationary storage reel.